I Won’t Buy Cra-Z-Art Crayons Again – Too Waxy, Clumpy & Soft

Similar to how we do our Try Me Tuesday posts with product recommendations, I thought it would be also fun to do basically the complete opposite. With that said, I introduce “Waste of Money Wednesday!” 😂 This post will be exactly that – the Hip2Save team will be sharing products that they aren’t happy with, products they feel are a waste of money – basically product UN-recommendations.

Hello everyone! It’s Angie, one of Collin’s sidekicks!

If you’ve got kids, chances are they are back in school and you recently spent a small fortune purchasing back to school supplies (OR hardly anything if you’re a Hip2Saver!😃). In an attempt to save a little money, I decided to purchase Cra-Z-Art Crayons for around 25¢ instead of Crayola Crayons for 50¢ (gotta love those back to school sales).

If you’ve purchased Cra-Z-Art Crayons before, you may have that same sort of waste of money feeling that I have… ☹️

Cra-Z-Art Crayons tend to be a softer crayon, and they just don’t last very long. The tips also break easily which can be frustrating when you are putting the finishing touches on an art project. And, I have noticed they have a sort of waxy look to them that almost looks like you could peel the color up off the paper.

In addition, they leave small globs of waxy color behind, which doesn’t make for a very smooth appearance and it smears around. If you look at the pic above, the Cra-Z-Art crayons do have a vibrant color, but they appear super waxy and clumpy compared to the Crayola crayons.

I have decided that it’s DEFINITELY worth paying the additional money to purchase Crayola crayons!

shannon says:

Rachel says:

Jess says:

I happen to think that these are perfectly fine for Kindergartener’s and 1st graders. They’re inexpensive, they get the job done, and since they’re artwork will get recycled after a few days, it totally makes sense for me. Although if my kids were older like 4th and 5th grade I would totally get them Crayola. I guess my kids are really rough and break ALL crayons they get their hands on. So I totally see both sides of it. 🙂

Sparrowoftortuga says:

Maria says:

My honest take on school supplies is to not skimp on quality. I don’t want my kids to be frustrated with the tools they use at school and I want them to be able to do their job without the frustration of ‘tools’ that don’t work. That being said, I use hip2save to purchase quality tools at sale prices and try to stock up on extras in case they need them later on in the year. My kids have been frustrated with pencils that won’t sharpen well – the lead breaks, etc so I only purchase Ticonderoga or similar. Money is tight but not so tight that I can’t spend an extra 25 cents on a decent box of crayons, etc. I do hate when they run out of something and I have to buy it at full price – this has happened with notebooks in the past. I’d rather spend 25 cents than 2.99 or whatever the regular price is. Anyway, thanks for sharing and I completely agree!

Sean says:

My wife has been a PreK and Kindergarten teacher for 20+ years and she will not use any products other than Crayola, whether that is crayons, markers, or pencils. Plus, they stand behind their products, so if there is a quality problem, she is able to get them replaced very easily. The kids that come to school with cheap products end up breaking them quickly and we end up replacing them at our cost.

Kay says:

Growing up my mom only bought crayola products. This is one area she never budged on when homeschooling my sister and I. When the crayons got too short she would melt them down into shapes for my sister and I to color with again.

Casey Meyers says:

Gretchen says:

My kids just started school, and I heard so many people on here say only buy crayola. I took their word for it – so thank you hipsters for keeping me in good graces of the teachers 😉 Have to say though, most places around me run hot deals on crayola crayons – never spent more than $.50 for a 24 ct box, so really seems cheaper to buy crayola than anything else.

mel says:

My kids are in HS now, but when they first started school waaay back in 06, Walmart had Crayola’s $0.20/box. I bought 20 boxes and my mom thought I was nuts, but for $4 OOP, they weren’t gonna go bad! And that would last both kids through middle school as well as having extra’s in case I’d need to replace supplies mid-year or donations. After my oldest went to 6th grade, they didn’t need crayons, the supply list was for colored pencils. Anyway, I wound up with maybe 6 boxes left that I sent to their elem school this year, then kicking myself b/c one of the crayons out of the box is retired (dandelion). And I can’t find a 24 ct with that color in it anymore!!

Melissa Rice says:

Jo28p says:

I get great use out of the these crayons. We buy what is on sale for home. I’ve got younger kids and we always lose them. Seriously, where do they go?!?! So we buy what’s on sale. I’ve gotten a 64 count of crayons that was super cheap clearance and we’ve bought plenty of .25 one of the odd brand. Seriously, no problems with them. Maybe when the kids are older it’ll make a difference but for now, it’s no big deal.

Sarah says:

I used to buy the good school supplies until I found out that all their supplies were just put in a bucket and everyone could use them. I buy the Crayola at for at home and send the Crazy Art since they become community property and we get requests midway through the year for more supplies. I know it sounds cheap but if i’m going to have to buy supplies for everyone in the class than I don’t want to pay top dollar. When it’s a teacher request, I get the good stuff, like dry erase markers or sticky notes.

m says:

Teacher here. It is community property. But as a teacher, I don’t put the roseart/crazyart out for kids to use. I buy extra crayola when they’re on sale before school starts because I know some parents won’t follow my note that specifies crayola.

H says:

Kiwi says:

I love Crayola! Even if/when they break they still work. Don’t throw them out. As a school based therapist, short ones (broken) are great for kids who have difficulty using a tripod grasp. I had a teacher this year break a whole box into pieces for her kids.

Erin says:

Oh, I don’t know about that! My school had Prang crayons, which are the *worst*. You cannot color a picture smoothly with them, and it really bothered me. I still shudder when my kids get them a restaurants. Crazy Art are pretty bad, too. For our use, I get Crayola. I just stock up when they are on sale.

Michelle says:

Arlen says:

Yeah, Crayola really is the better crayon. I was making some lego crayons for my son’s bday party so I was melting crayons… The amount of wax!! It was just the ugliest thing, and the smell when they melted. My husband thought I had plastic melting in the oven somewhere. Crayola, different story. Learned my lesson, Crayola all the way!!

Michelle says:

I’m a teacher and I just returned a lot of crazyart and roseart crayon, pencils and markers, plus a few bottles of sanitzer that i never asked for (I’m good with sanitizer for about five years) I didnt have reciepts, but it didn;t matter. I used the proceeds to buy some 8-color watercolor sets that I needed.

Kc says:

I cannot do cheap crayons or colored pencils. My son would get so upset coloring with them, especially when he was just learning to use his fine motor skills. The picture came out so light that he couldn’t even see his work. I threw out all the cheapies after that and go as far as to buy a ton of extra of the good supplies so that the teachers in my sons class don’t have to use the cheap stuff.

I just wish parents viewed school the way that they viewed their own job. I wouldn’t buy cheap tools if I was a mechanic, or cheap kitchenware if I was a chef, the last thing I want is for my kids or any kid to struggle or be frustrated because they are using cheap and not quality “tools”.

visitor3 says:

*Angela-Miles* says:

I still remember a couple years ago how rude this woman was to me in the school supply aisle because I saw that she was buying crazy-art crayons and just mentioned to her that they weren’t the best quality. I was very nice about it and wasn’t telling her what to buy, just offering my insight, but she was very rude and told me it was none of my business what crayons she bought . haahaha now I laugh about it but at the time I was dumb founded by how snippy someone could be over 10 boxes of crayons. 🙂 I personally love the Mr. Sketch scented crayons

YES! As a homeschooling mom of four we go through a lot of pencils, glue and crayons. It is definitely worth it to buy Crayola, Elmer’s and Ticonderoga for those items! So much less waste because the crayons don’t break so easy, the glue isn’t so watery and runny and the pencil lead doesn’t snap and have to be resharpened constantly.

Amanda says:

Hollie says:

Honestly I don’t spend too much on school supplies and I don’t even let my kids pick stuff out because at our school they just have you drop everything in a tote and everyone uses everything. I do however always buy Crayola. I posted a funny picture on my Facebook saying why would anyone not spend the extra cents on Crayola and I got a hateful response from someone saying that was all her mother could afford and she turned out fine. Well for my kids I will spend the extra money and save it on something else.

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